Browse Interviews

Jim LaRue recollects his early childhood in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, eventually leaving for college at Bucknell University where he was student body president. At Bucknell, LaRue encountered Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and took inspiration from King's use of translating love into justice, which became a lifelong mantra for LaRue in his involvement in the ministry and in his efforts in rehabbing homes in the greater Cleveland area.

Kristina Walter, an art educator, recollects her early life and how her faith has shaped her experience living in the greater Cleveland area. Walter notes the importance of religion and social justice throughout her education, which led her to join Cleveland's Catholic Worker Movement.

Miriam Rosenberg grew up in the Moreland community. She shares stories about being involved in Dr. Spock's program, the close friendships she made living in the neighborhood, and attending the Moreland schools.

Donna M. Whyte speaks about the importance of the education system in Shaker Heights, specifically Moreland, to her decision to move to and remain in Moreland. She also discusses the importance of community and identity in this interview.

Jewel Murphy Kirkland discusses her experiences living in Shaker Heights and the Moreland neighborhood. In this interview, she discusses some of the difficulties living in Moreland as an African American, the importance of the Shaker school system, and the demographic of Moreland.

Jewel Murphy-Kirkland describes her life in the Moreland neighborhood, including the neighborhood, proximity of shops to their home, the help the city provided to homeowners, the importance of East View Church, and her work as a nurse practitioner.

Steven A. Minter was President and Executive Director of The Cleveland Foundation for almost 20 years. In this interview, he discusses his life growing up in the Moreland community, his involvement in the Shaker school system, and education.

Anne de Coningh of Chagrin Falls has been a member of Village Garden Club since 2003. In this interview, she recalls moving from Cleveland to Shaker Heights in the late 1950s, her time as a schoolteacher, skiing and sailing, garden club activities including during the Covid-19 pandemic, the club’s Cherry Tree Grove, club members’ role in stopping the construction of freeways through the Shaker Lakes, her opinions about the Horseshoe Lake dam controversy, and her current leadership of the Chagrin…

Barbara Shockey, a member of Village Garden Club since 1992, moved from South Bend, Indiana, to Cleveland Heights in the late 1950s. She discusses her careers in teaching and real estate, offices held in the garden club, and her work to research the club’s history in preparation for its 85th anniversary in 2015. Shockey provides a summary of this history from its founding, including extensive commentary on the Shaker Lakes freeway fight in the 1960s, as well as on the Horseshoe Lake dam…

Dozie Herbruck is a longtime member and newly elected president of the Village Garden Club. Originally from Newark, New Jersey, she moved to Cleveland Heights in 1967. She discusses the garden club’s Cherry Tree Grove, how the club coped with the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic and ways in which the club has evolved in recent years, including welcoming the first male member in its 90-year history. She also offers her thoughts on the current debates over the future of Horseshoe Lake.

Kathleen Tripp grew up in Connecticut and moved to the Cleveland area in the 1970s. She and her husband lived in a farmhouse on Case Western Reserve University’s Squire Valleevue Farm in Moreland Hills and then spent time living in the Netherlands and traveling in Europe before moving to Cleveland Heights in 2002. In the following year she joined the Village Garden Club. She describes club activities including during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020-21, the club’s admission of its first male…

Pat Agatisa is a newer member of the Village Garden Club in Shaker Heights. She discusses growing up in New York City, living in Pittsburgh, and moving to Shaker Heights in the early 2000s to a house on Green Lake. She discusses her leading role in overseeing the upkeep of the garden club’s Cherry Tree Grove at Horseshoe Lake. Agatisa describes how the club accepted its first male member, reflects on how the club dealt with the Covid-19 pandemic, and shares gardening tips.

Sally Cantor is a native of Atlanta, Georgia, and a member of the Village Garden Club in Shaker Heights. She discusses growing up in Georgia, her research and career in social work, time spent living in Wilmington, Delaware, and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, before turning to her experience in the garden club. She shares stories about her night-blooming cereus parties, the garden club's Cherry Tree Grove, how the club continued to meet virtually during the Covid-19 pandemic, and the Horseshoe Lake…

Helen Schreiber has been a member of the Village Garden Club since about 1970. She discusses immigrating to the U.S. from Germany in the 1940s with her Ukrainian parents, living in Cleveland’s Tremont neighborhood through high school, and returning after college to live in Shaker Heights. Schreiber describes her experience teaching flower arranging classes and her service in several positions in the garden club.

Lorna Mierke of Shaker Heights has been a member of the Village Garden Club since 1964. She recounts memories of growing up in New Haven, Connecticut, where she lived through college. Mierke describes her mother-in-law Prudence Mierke’s role in fighting the Clark and Lee Freeways that were planned to slice through the Shaker Lakes in the 1960s, as well as her opinions about the Horseshoe Lake dam controversy. She discusses the origin of the garden club’s Cherry Tree Grove, her experience with…

Bobbie Farrell is a longtime resident of Cleveland Heights and member of the Village Garden Club. She discusses her involvement in the Western Reserve Herb Society, including in conjunction with the Cleveland Botanical Garden, the Horseshoe Lake dam controversy, the importance of planting native species of trees and plants for sustainability, her time as president of the garden club, the club’s Cherry Tree Grove, older members’ involvement in stopping freeways planned in the Shaker Lakes.

Frank Gerlak, architect and urban planner, discusses the history of Coventry and, more generally, Cleveland Heights. Throughout this discussion he touches on the topics of streetcars, planned suburbs, public transportation, and the nation's obsession with the automobile, which concludes with thoughts on Cleveland's development, growth, and missed chances.

Allen Foster has lived in Shaker Heights since 1984. He discusses his time on city council, his involvement with the Boy Scouts and youth groups, and his role in the Moreland Association.

Lydia Crowder discusses her childhood and her move into Shaker Heights. She discusses her memory growing up in the Shaker Heights area, including her move from Sutton Road to Milverton Road and the various attractions in the area.

Sharon Curry discusses her life in Shaker Heights. She lived on two different streets, Nicholas and Menlo. She reminisces about her life in Shaker, calling it a great place and promoting many of the aspects about it, especially its safety.

Marian Garth-Saffold discusses her time living in Moreland, her involvement in the community, and reasons she moved to and from Shaker. The choice to move to Moreland was influencd by its good school system and its acceptance of blacks in the 1960s. Marian talks with the interviewer about her job as a lab technician and then working for the unions. She discusses her daughter's impact on life in Shaker and Warrensville, where she and her husband moved when her daughter became the city's mayor.…

Walter Ratcliffe grew up in Shaker Heights and spent most of his life as a member of the Moreland community. He discusses his life growing up in Shaker playing basketball, going to parties, and his time moving around throughout the community.

LaVera Wingfield shares the story of her family growing up in Cleveland and moving to Shaker Heights. She tells stories about her children growing up in the school district and the affection she has for her community. Wingfield is currently involved with the Neighbor Night program and discusses programs they are hosting within the community.

Christopher Hubbert grew up in Cleveland Heights and describes the area. Throughout his adult life he has lived in Forest Hills and he discusses the development of this neighborhood. He discusses the community atmosphere inherent in the Forest Hills neighborhood, which he attributes to strong resident associations.

Interview with William Gruber who is the son of the founder of Gruber's Restaurant in Shaker Heights. He offers his recollections and family stories about the popular, upscale restaurant, which the family owned throughout the 1950's.

Christine Branche, originally from Arkansas, moved to Cleveland when she was six. She attended Cleveland Public Schools and excelled in her studies. Her adult life was devoted to promoting the Christian Children's Fund and Head Start around the world. She specifically focused on encouraging parent involvement in their students' education. She raised her family in the Ludlow community and served in the Ludlow Community Association. In full detail she describes the rewards and challenges that the…

John Bourne states that his third occupation is being a genealogist. Due to his affinity for ancestral research he provides a lengthy sweep of the Bourne family history and how they came to Cleveland. At a young age he started to work at Central National Bank and he worked himself up through the ranks. He eventually transferred to Bank One. He soon left the banking world behind and got involved with commercial real estate. He has always been very involved in the University Circle area,…

Carolyn Peskin grew up in Cleveland Heights and was a dedicated student. She holds numerous graduate degrees ranging from chemistry to music therapy. She describes the integration of Shaker Heights. She briefly discusses how the role women played in society changed and developed. After having a short career as a teacher, Peskin devoted much of her adult life to the care of her children and traveling with her environmentalist husband. She touches on some of the environmental issues the Great…

George Rose, originally from the Bronx in New York City, explains what it was like to live in a working-class neighborhood growing up. He vividly describes marches on Union Square and unionization. He was drafted in World War II, but he still completed college. He entered the oil industry and worked for decades at Standard Oil of Ohio in the Midland Building. He lived with his family in Shaker Heights. During the interview, the changes he observed in the neighborhood were detailed. Although born…

Marilyn B. Bialosky, Shaker Heights native, describes her well traveled life. She recalls what it was like growing up during the Great Depression and World War 2. She met her husband at Forest Hills Park, and at 16 years old she knew she was going to marry him. After 65 years of marriage, her feelings for him are still strong. Living in Shaker Heights around Shaker Square, Bialosky describes what it was like growing up with anti-semitism, and then what it was like teaching at Ludlow during…

Croatian Native and longtime Clevelander, Sonja Unger describes her time in Cleveland. She begins by discussing how she volunteered to help accommodate newly arrived immigrants. She relates several interesting stories about various immigrants she encountered along the way. She then describes her political involvement in two arenas. The first being Civil Rights, which was mostly her husband's field, but she says she could not let him have all of the fun. She then talks about how she spearheaded…

Gretchen Larson, Cleveland Native, discusses living in the Eastside suburbs of Cleveland. Born in East Cleveland, it was not long before her father took advantage of the Great Depression and moved them to a bigger, better house in Shaker Heights. She relates many memories about her time growing up on Southington Boulevard. These include how groceries were delivered directly to the house, how she once saw a runaway horse running down the street, and how people would pick the dandelions to make…

At 91 years old and having lived in Shaker Towers for more than 45 years, Taffy Epstein is one of the oldest and longest-standing residents of the towers. Professionally Epstein produced and sold dance and gymnastics apparel. In this interview Epstein relates her many of her experiences she has had living in the towers and how they have changed over the years. Of particular interest are the descriptions she gives of the large parties that she used to throw and her involvement in the integration…

Lois Aaron is 91 and has lived in Shaker Tower since 1998. Lois grew up in Cleveland but spent a number of years living in New Hampshire where she worked at Dartmouth College and ran an inn with her husband. In this interview Lois talks about living in Shaker Tower and describes some of the people that she knew when she moved in. Lois also relates some of the memories she had growing up in Cleveland prior to moving to NH. Of particular interest is her involvement in League of Women Voters and…

Bebe Chase is a long time resident of Cleveland, mentioning moving into a house on Scottsdale Blvd. in 1928. An avid gardener, Bebe talks about the gardening that she continues to do even in her old age. Bebe also relates many of the aspects that she likes about living in Shaker Tower, the diversity of the residents, and the security that tower provides. Of particular interest at the end of the interview, Bebe describes her early years living in the Cleveland area.

Nancy and Robert Klein are both retired professors who moved to Shaker Tower from Cleveland Heights. In this interview they discuss the reasons for their move to the tower, the atmosphere in terms of the physical and social environment along with describing the benefits of the tower's location in relation to Shaker Square and University Circle. Of particular interest is the description of the floor plans of the units and the renovations that they and other residents have done to their…

Nina Gibans relates two stories in this short audio clip. She describes an anonymous person who thinks of the tower as a "sanctuary." The other story is description of the younger demographic of residents who call the tower their home, if only for a short time.

James Schuerger describes how he and his wife came to live at Shaker Towers and relates stories of how the Towers and neighborhood have impacted their lives.

Charles Schulman of Carlyle Management describes the history and operations of Shaker Towers, including the the initial condominium conversion, property management, as well as his family's residence in the building across several generations.

Diana Woodbridge grew up in Tucson, Arizona, and Shaker Heights, attended college at Miami University, and taught school for a short time in Painesville, Ohio. She discusses the struggle for fair housing in the Heights in the 1960s-70s and the formation of two key organizations: Forest Hill Housing Corporation and Heights Community Congress.

Robert O'Neal is the chief probation officer in Shaker Heights at the time of this interview. He was born in the Glenville area and moved to Shaker Heights when he was in the fifth grade. He went to school in Shaker, graduating from Shaker Heights High School. After high school he went to Morehouse College in Atlanta. While in college he worked on the campaign of Maynard Jackson, who became the first black mayor of Atlanta. From Atlanta he went back to Shaker for a few years then moved to Los…

Susan Kaeser lived in Wisconsin through graduate school. She earned a master of urban planning degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, during which time she met Cleveland City Planning Director Norman Krumholz. Krumholz brought her to Cleveland to serve as a city planner. When she arrived in Cleveland in 1976 she lived first in the Ludlow neighborhood near Shaker Square before moving to Cleveland Heights in 1979. In the interview she discusses how she became a community activist, the…

Francis Chiappa describes his role in the Cleveland Heights Nuclear Freeze Campaign in the 1980s. He worked hard along with other members of Cleveland Heights to make Cleveland Heights a Nuclear Free zone. He describes his background that placed him on the path of activism. He also describes the challenges and triumphs in the process of designating Cleveland Heights nuclear free.

Donna McIntyre Whyte, a Shaker Heights resident, has led a colorful life. She describes the life of her parents. Her mother was a pilot in the 1940s – a unique job for an African American woman at the time – and her uncle was a Tuskegee Airman. Whyte's parents passed a strong work ethic and a belief in the value of education on to her. Whyte describes growing up in the Mount Pleasant area and the fun she had with friends. She tells a great story about how kids would hide in the trunk of the car…

Elliot Gordon is interviewed for his thoughts on Cleveland and its development since he moved to the city for school in the 1980s. Poor sound quality.

Allen Ford, current resident of Judson Manor, relates his experiences growing up in Shaker Heights, Ohio, during the 1930's and 40's. Topics covered include the effects of World War II on daily life, the importance of the Rapid Transit system, and downtown shopping. Ford recalls the opening of the Colony Movie Theater at Shaker Square and describes its Art Deco interior. He describes the operations and function of Pickands Mather Company, and the decline of the steel industry in the United…

Doris Vargo discusses the history of Plymouth Church, its origins in Shaker Heights, and her own personal experiences with the church. This includes the church's community invovlement in Shaker Heights and its progressive beliefs. Vargo also discusses housing in Shaker Heights.

In this 2012 interview, Bob Rawson talks about Shaker Heights as a child and today. His parents were both involved with Shaker Heights, and the city of Cleveland. He talks about his focus on education in the community, reflects on his childhood in Shaker Schools, and discusses what he believes to be current issues in Shaker.

Pat Pogue is an active member of the Shaker community. She was in charge of the Welcome Wagon for 37 years in Shaker Heights until 1999 when the national organization did away with their community representatives. Pogue loved welcoming newcomers so much that she began a program called the Welcome Basket where she fulfilled the same duties of the Welcome Wagon, but under a different name. She tells stories of her Welcome Wagon experiences and how the organization is an asset to the Shaker…

Jim Neville has lived in Shaker Heights since 1970 and works for an architectural firm in the city. He talks about the Shaker Heights board of Architectural Review. He, as of 2012, was still serving on the board. He discusses how the board works, the standards they aim to keep in Shaker, and the value of the architecture. He also talks about the challenges of building sympathetic additions, even to his own historic home.

In this 2012 interview, Fran King, a longtime resident of Shaker Heights, describes her experience in the Ludlow community. Moving from Boston to Cleveland with her husband and her children, Mrs. King remembers the early days of the Ludlow Community Association. Becoming more active in civil rights, she details Ludlow's fight against white flight, and the attraction of Shaker schools for surrounding communities. Throughout her memories, the Van Sweringens are mentioned often. Mrs. King, also the…

In this 2012 interview, Jennifer Mearns talks about her role as a member of the school board in Shaker Heights. She explains some of the programs offered in the school, and the advantages of living in Shaker Heights.

In this 2012 interview, Shelley Stokes-Hammond speaks about growing up in the city of Cleveland and then transitioning to the ever growing diverse community of Ludlow. She speaks about her lack of knowledge of racial aggression as a child, and the peaceful community she was raised in. She briefly discusses the attitude and tensions in the early days of the Ludlow integration, and the African-American response to the integrated housing plan put forth by the Ludlow Community Organization. The Van…

Charlene Higgenbotham, a Shaker Heights resident, recounts her childhood and the formative influence her parents had on she and her sister. Higgenbotham had a lot of jobs over the years and moved around. She was also active in her daughter, Joy's, education and is happy with her success. Higgenbotham is happy to live in Shaker Heights because it is integrated and multicultural and is also active in the United Church of Christ. In the interview Higgenbotham also talks about how she was not very…

In this 2012 interview, Geoff Mearns talks about growing up in Shaker and moving back. He spent his high school years in Shaker Heights in the 1970s, and then moved back to raise his kids there. His mother was on city council and then became the first woman to be mayor in Shaker Heights. He talks a little bit about her, as well as his father's involvement in desegregation in Cleveland Schools. Mearns also discusses changes taking place in Shaker today, especially the widening socioeconomic gap…

Barbara Grey, a Shaker Heights resident, served as the president of the Shaker Heights School Board for eight years. She oversaw school closings and integration. All five of Grey's childten went to the Shaker public schools and now she has two grandkids in the schools. She is impressed by the vibrant arts programs at the schools and the active school community. She says Shaker Heights is a civic minded city and residents are always involved in the commnity whether it be the schools, the…

Former Shaker Heights Planning Commission member, City Council Member and Mayor, Judy Rawson talks about redevelopment in Shaker Heights. She discusses the problems faced, the achievements, and the issues that still linger. She explains how the community gets involved with politics and what kind of impact that has on the outcome of public policy. She talks briefly about her work in reorganzing county government after her terms as mayor in Shaker Heights ended in 2007.

James Toman is a photographer and author who has written two books on the Shaker Rapid system. An authority on the subject, Toman continues to give talks and present slide shows on the Shaker line and owns a vast personal collection of around 2000 photographs that he has taken of the trains since the 1970s. In this interview Toman relates the history of the Shaker Rapid from its origins as a capital venture on the part of the Van Sweringen brothers all the way up to the present, relating stories…

In this 2012 interview, Robb Forward of Shaker's Brown-Forward Funeral Home, describes his life living in Shaker and the experiences he went through elsewhere. Beginning with his life as a child, he tells stories of Shaker's conservatism in the 1950s and early 1960s, and the role of religion in different ethnic groups. As the turbulent '60s plowed through everyday life, he describes the racial tension and then the anti-war tension, being a Vietnam veteran. Mr. Forward then provides a brief…

Betty Meyers is a member of the Baptist Church in Shaker Heights. In this interview she relates the history of the church, the interactions that the leaders had with the Van Sweringen brothers along with detailing some of the architectural aspects of the edifice.